Residents evacuated as record-breaking flood engulfs Australian town
A record-breaking flood in Australia's Queensland state was forecast to peak on Sunday, after almost 100 residents of an outback town were moved to higher ground.
The flood, triggered by heavy rain over the past week, is worst in the remote Gulf of Carpentaria town of Burketown, about 2,100 km (1,300 miles) northwest of the state capital Brisbane.
Dan McKinlay, chief executive of the local council responsible for Burketown, said on Sunday that 97 residents had been airlifted out in the past 48 hours.
Australia's Bureau of Meteorology predicted water levels in the area would peak on Sunday. It said the flood had already topped a March 2011 record of 6.78 meters (22.2 feet).
The crisis comes after frequent flooding in Australia's east over the last two years due to a multi-year La Nina weather event, including once-in-a-century floods that hit remote areas in the neighbouring Northern Territory, in January.
The footage, filmed on Saturday (March 11) shows high water levels in Burketown, with properties and swaths of land submerged.
McKinlay said on Sunday that water levels in the area were "at heights not previously known" and the town looked like it was "sitting in the middle of an ocean", he told ABC radio.
The Bureau of Meteorology expected the weather event to continue this week but said it was now in a "receding" phase.
Reuters
